Is My Chronic Pain Fibro?

I have spent two years now in extreme pain. None stop. I've gone to Doctors in many areas in which they give me a different diagnosis. Each pretty much meaning I have chronic pain but they didn't know why. The last one which was a year ago this month I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Again, not an answer, but just a way of saying 'your in pain and there's nothing we can do'.


After that, I've tried to see pain clinics and everything else, which not one person will try and help. It's frustrating. Two years of not being able to live my life is already two years too much.

The story behind it is that I took tylenol with codeine for horrible menstrual cramps. It did nothing that night when I took it, so I stayed home the day after and went back to sleep when a few hours later, I was woken up by horrible chest pain. I could breathe it hurt so much. It came in spells, randomly. I would have a moment of relief when I think I was okay again when it comes back in another hard wave. I was rushed to the ER in which they took X-rays and everything and it was said I wasn't having a heart attack. They gave me something in case it was my digestive system to numb it, which did nothing. And then a shot of ibuprofen, which still did nothing only
to be released soon after. It was the start of the long cycle of people doing nothing to help me.
I've read through everything, but I still am not sure. I do not have low Vitamin D. I've been on supplements for years now and if anything, it's very much a normal level. It is not magnesium with no help either, completely no change. I've tried eating healthy, and still, nothing.


I have been tested in other things. My heart has been checked, my stomach and digestive system. I have even had a piece of my stomach taken to test for allergies. Even a neurologist.
Some of my symptoms is NO sleep. I've been on a number of things to help it, and yet it still does nothing. Pain on average of 9.5 out of 10, daily. It's not only a stabbing pain, but throbs. If touches, the pain radiates and gets worse for at least ten minutes. Pains in my legs that are a lot like restless leg syndrome. The average places that hurt is my neck, my head, my shoulders, down my back and horrible aching. Pretty much EVERYTHING in the Fibromyalgia pamphlets that they had out. I have been tested for nearly everything under the sun it seems, if not tripled checked. Please, if you have any insight, please let me know. I want to get better, but I'm horribly frustrated at this point that I have not once gotten any help.

Comments for Is My Chronic Pain Fibro?

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I don't think you've read closely enough
by: Kerri Knox, RN- The Immune Queen!

I'm sorry to hear of your awful time the past two years, however, I DON'T think that you've read my site very carefully or done the things that I recommend on it.

First of all, you don't say WHAT your Vitamin D level is. You said 'it's a normal level' but that is meaningless. By WHOSE standard is it 'normal'? Please read my page on Normal Vitamin D Levels to see if your level is OPTIMAL. Being 'normal' is not good enough, it needs to be OPTIMAL. Normal levels, depending upon the laboratory or the opinion of the doctor, could be 20 to 30 points lower than the optimal levels recommended by researchers.

Next, you say "It's not magnesium either", but you don't say how you know that. AND it sounds EXACTLY like magnesium deficiency. The menstrual cramps, the chest pains, the insomnia: these are all Signs of Magnesium Deficiency. Please see my page on how to get the RIGHT Magnesium Dosage. It's likely that you'll need FAR FAR FAR more magnesium than you've tried before.

Next, the fact that you used the term 'eating healthy' makes me almost 100% certain that you have NOT actually been 'eating healthy'. 90% of my clients who tell me that they 'eat healthy' actually eat terrible. So, have you gone on a Gluten Intolerance Diet? Have you completely eliminated inflammatory foods like trans-fats, processed foods and Vegetable Cooking Oil?? Are you following the tenets of the Weston A. Price diet as outlined in The Healthy Urban Kitchen?

People who actually DO eat healthy tell me something like "I've been following a raw vegan, sugar free, soy free, gluten free diet for the past year" or "I follow the Weston Price Diet". They do NOT say that they 'eat healthy'.

Another mistake that you may be making is relying on tests to determine if you have food allergies. You need to just eliminate foods that are allergenic and see if that helps. Tests are not very useful- especially if those tests are done by western medicine practitioners since their standards for what is an allergen is much lower.

So, please correct me if I'm wrong and you HAVE done all of those things, but you didn't go into details and it makes me suspect that you've not done these things that I mention on my site.


Kerri Knox, RN




I Also Was Diagnosed With Fibro!
by: Anonymous

About 16 years ago, after a bladder infection which I had taken an antibiotic to correct, and I am not sure which antibiotic I took, but I suspect it was probably a Floroquinolone , such as Cipro or Levaquin...I was in so much pain in my body, especially my arms and shoulders..I could barely lift my arms..and I could fall asleep, but was in so much pain and so uncomfortable that if I woke up I could not get back to sleep...Finally I was sent to a rheumatologist..Who diagnosed me with Fibro...asked if I was getting any sleep and said my body couldn't heal if it wasn't getting restorative rest...so he prescribed Doxipen, a sleeping pill. I started taking 25mg at bedtime and it was like a miracle...I had no idea how great it was to get a full nights sleep and soon my body was so much better. And the best part was that it didn't make me groggy or sleepy, but when I woke up in the middle of the night I could fall back asleep and I am still taking this Doxepin and it doesn't work as well as it did the 1st 5 years, but it still helps. Then shortly after being diagnosed with the Fibro, I was diagnosed with peripheral neuropathy in my feet, a tingling in my toes etc...So what I am wondering is if the antibiotic may have been Cipro or one of the Quinolones and that is what may have started all these mystery health problems!! I read where many people said they were diagnosed with both of these illnesses after taking Quinolone antibiotics...mine began after whatever antibiotic I took for the bladder infection......It was probably a Quinolone...I was 49 yrs. old at the time..My husband has severe tendonitis from the Ciprofloxacin he took for a prostate infection...I was wondering if maybe a antibiotic had been taken sometime previous to all of this pain you are having?

Response
by: Cherise

There was no antibiotic that I had been taken before hand. Just the tylenol with codeine. Sadly, I haven't had so much luck with sleeping meds. I've been on more then I can put my finger on, including ambien, which I had a very bad effect on. (another ER visit.)

And the first person, I'm sorry I don't have all the level numbers. I'm sorry. I did read it through, but the past two years have been a mess through the last two years. I know my Vitamin D level was considered 'high' by normal standards, but normal according to Women to Women. I was on magnesium for over a month, I went to the highest level someone my age and weight are suppose to, (or so I was told) and if anything, it made sleep almost worse. I would be struck with tiredness only to lay down and suddenly be completely restless. As for the health foods I've tried, I never once tried any 'diet'. I tried no starch, veggies and fruits. I tried no gluten. At one point, I was even on a liquid diet for a week. I'm sorry if you think I'm just stating things without knowing anything. I was only 17 when most of the tests were done for six mouths straight and 18 now. I also have memory problems where numbers just don't stick, so I simply can't remember off the top of my head any of it. I'm sorry.

Fibro Pain
by: Anonymous

I am so sorry to hear about all of your pain...I just want to say,,,Please talk to your doctor about trying Doxepin, in the sleeping pill dose, which is 25mg. It is a anti depressant in a much higher dose, but at 25mg it is a sleeping pill.
I cannot begin to tell you how much better I got as far as the Fibro goes after being on this medication...I also tried Ambien, it was horrible.
I have not had one bad side effect from this pill, ever, no grogginess, no sleepiness, no brain fog.
NOTHING, except a wonderful nights sleep, every night...and if I woke up to go to the bathroom, I would go back sleep with no problem, instead of laying there and thinking and tossing and turning for 2 or 3 hours every night like I did before I started taking the Doxepin....And my body slowly healed and I felt wonderful...the insomnia would not let my body heal....TRY IT...it also worked for my friend with horrible Rheumatoid arthritis, he got very little sleep, began taking the Doxepin and finally started being able to sleep without the grogginess that is so annoying...
And my son also began taking it and it worked for him...So, it won't hurt for you to at least ask your doctor to prescribe it for you in the sleeping pill dose...I used to take it and stay up for 3 or 4 hours before I went to bed because it didn't make me sleepy...It still worked great, but then I realized that taking it at the same time every night, about an hour or so before bed is the best way to do it....
Also...are you sure you didn't take any antibiotic in the past, it doesn't always effect you right away....my husband took it 4 times,over 4 years before we figured out what happened to him, his tendons were so damaged in his upper arms and shoulders that he could barely get himself out of bed in the morning...then we read the black box warning on the prescription of Ciprofloxacin and realized what hit him...Look up Levaquin toxicity and see how many hundreds of people are suffering horrific side effects from Fluoroquinolone antibiotics...there are many forums of devastated people from these drugs. Google "PBS show on Levaquin Toxicity and you will see what I mean...I hope you get better, but don't judge all sleeping pills by the bad ones you have taken!!
Let me know what you decide to do...Good Luck!

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